Welcome to the Work Life Lab! This is a space for exploring what works and what doesn't when trying to balance your busy work and home life. We all want the same thing- better results for the time we put in. Here I try, test, and tell you about what happens when I test ways to better get the outcomes I want. My intent is to share what works for me in the hopes that it'll work for you too. Thanks for reading!

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” –Jane Goodall

Your clutter has global reach. As citizen consumers, we have a responsibility to understand that those things come from somewhere and go somewhere when we’re finished with them. Tidying up is very nice, but it is a superficial band aid to a globally systemic crisis. This planet’s clutter is exponentially diminishing our chances of survival on this planet. It’s killing us. And that fact is getting increasingly more difficult to dispute or ignore.

Gross materialism is a sickness, the direct result of a deceitful (often unlawful) capitalistic conspiracy to systematically fund a handful of corporations. We have been duped into believing that we need stuff to be happy. All that stuff – the vast majority of it is just junk, a cancer and diabetes-inducing promise of happiness that never comes. Here’s the rub: Even if I personally don’t want those things, my environment is now irreparably contaminated. Here’s how:

Most of our stuff is cheaply manufactured, using known-toxins that contaminate local (and often regional) water supplies, in factories powered by unconscionable volumes of fossil fuels; where onsite laborers suffer deplorable conditions without a living wage – so that we can buy in bulk at Walmart. As a result, a handful of obscenely wealthy con-artists continue to get rich off the worlds’ collective complacency. The stuff we make and willingly buy is distressingly representative of the decline of our species and the power of those pulling the strings.

Once we connect these dots, we can start to demand change. The ClutterFree Revolution is a global movement of dedicated citizens committed to peace, environmental conservation, habitat preservation, human rights, civil liberties, and conscious consumerism. Collectively, we know that what we do matters and it starts at home – with who we support, what we buy, from whom, and why. The ClutterFree Revolution is a movement about needing less and sharing the things we don't need with those who need that stuff most. It’s about recycling and repurposing absolutely anything that can be reused. It's about embracing the sustainability of our species on this planet. It's about taking matters into our own hands by being intentional about how we live.

The ClutterFree Revolution is about empowering a generation of global citizens, united behind the conservation of precious life-giving resources in support of one another. The effects of our voracious consumption have reached a terminal apex, one from which there is no going back. Unless we immediately shift our collective effort to sustainability, our booming populations will continue to exhaust precious resources, as we drown in a sea of useless stuff.

The writing is on the wall; let us see it is as a call to action. Let us recommit to stewardship, responsibility, innovation, and ingenuity. If we are to survive, let us reject gross materialism and the toxic drivel relentlessly stuffed down our throats. Let us reach out to one another, united with the people of the world with our wallets, our ideas, and our energy in support of environmental conservation, practical minimalism, humanitarian philanthropy, organic food production—and common sense birth control. Let us return to realistic and practical strategies for survival on this planet.

Need less, get organized and reprioritize your precious resources away from mindless consumption and collectively demand accountability to those intentionally sabotaging our children’s future. Simplify your stuff. Vote with your fork, your wallet and your bicycle. Starve the wolves pushing fossil fuels, GMOs, and the military-industrial complex and start feeding innovation, sustainability and education. Whichever we feed becomes our future. Shed your literal and figurative excess, embrace simplicity, nurture sustainability, and help clear the cluttered path to the life we seek. Join the ClutterFree Revolution, take intentional action, and do your part to ensure tomorrow’s promise is one of peace, love and abundance.

Evan Michael Zislis is a professional organizer, social entrepreneur, and author of the top-rated Amazon best seller, ClutterFree Revolution: Simplify Your Stuff, Organize Your Life & Save the World. (http://amzn.to/1M9c9fb) Based out of Aspen, Colorado, his work has been featured in Inc. magazine, Aspen Magazine, Aspen Sojourner magazine, Colorado Interiors, Modern Luxury, and a variety of widely-acclaimed blog sites. Evan has been invited to present his first TED Talk later this year in Denver, Colorado.

point of View

The Work Life Lab is a place to explore ways to strike a better balance. professionally and personally. Getting the outcomes you want with more positive impact requires a new mindset and a different way of working. It involves knowing what matters most, focusing your efforts, and managing your time. I believe small changes can create big results. And, I believe in you.

Work Life Lab by Robin Camarote

Finding balance through trial and error

The Work Life Lab is a place to explore what works- and what doesn't- when trying to strike that elusive sense of work-life balance. I'm a working mom with three kids. I try things and share my experiences with the hopes that some of the best strategies might work for you too.